Graceful Embroidery’s Website

Graceful Embroidery has just launched a beautiful new website for purchasing

her many amazing embroidery designs. The site was carefully planned to make

reviewing and purchasing embroidery enjoyable.

However, for those of us who might be a bit less computer savvy than others,

here are a few guidelines intended to help find that special design you need and

successfully download it to your files.

Log In:

You are considered a “returning customer” only if you have purchased

embroidery designs directly from this new website. Any and all others must create

a new account.

Create a New Account:

To create an account, it really is a matter of “filling in the blanks”. Basic

information is required, that being name, address, phone, e-mail address, etc. You

will be required to create a password and then to type that same password in again

to confirm it. When doing so, it is important to remember that any and all passwords

are case sensitive. In other words, if you register with your pass word as “Baby” but

when you log in on another day and type “baby” as your password, it will not admit

you to your account information or recognize you for purchasing designs.

Helpful Hint: Unless you only use one password for absolutely

every thing, it is a good idea to keep a small notebook by your computer

and document the Company, Your sign in name (sometimes it can be

your e-mail address while some companies require the sign in name to

be other than that address) and also the Password selected to be used for

this Company just as it needs to be, in other words noting case

sensitivities.

Navigating the Website:

This website is very user friendly and by that I mean, a left click of the mouse

often brings you right where you want to go. Take for instance, the scroller right

at the top of the Home page featuring various collections as a slide-show, if one

catches your eye, simply by clicking on the picture, the actual collection page is

brought up for you to review all the sets and designs within this particular collection.

If you want to return to where you were previously, at the top of the Internet

page is a tool bar with a “return” arrow which, just by clicking will take you back

through all the pages you have previously been on. Or at the top of Graceful

Embroidery’s web site are also other “helpful” words to help your progress on the

review other collections or to return to the Home page quickly.

Most collections are divided into sets which are opened simply by clicking on

the image revealing all the elements which make up that set. If a larger picture of

an individual design featured in the set is desired, click on any element and a box will

open allowing not only for a more detailed view of the one you chose, but also the

ability to view them all, one at a time, with the use of the arrows in the box. Simple

hit the “x” to close the “zoom box”.

Providing you are signed in, you also have access to your:

Wish List-items that have caught your attention should be placed

on a wish list streamlining your next shopping venture by

the ability to quickly view those previously considered

Shopping Cart-items you are currently purchasing

Account-which should be reviewed periodically updating personal

information and reviewing designs already purchased

Finding Designs:

There are multiple ways in which to browse through designs and also to

quickly locate a specific set. If just browsing, certainly take the

time to simply click on buttons, pictures, words…….this website is

very interactive and you may just be surprised at what you find.

To locate a specific collection, go to the bottom of any page and under

“Contact Us” click on Site Map. In addition to all the Embroidery

Collections available, this page also contains many other important

areas which are easily reached simply by clicking on words, such

as “Terms and Conditions” which outlines what you are agreeing to

during the purchasing process.

When looking at a set, take the time to open the “In detail” tab right

below the main design. Additional information about the individual

designs within are provided- such as thread count(S), number of

colors used (C), design size (H & W), date and software version & format

created in (VP3).The more you know about a set will only help in making

a suitable selection.

Another wonderful aid available is the ability to compare design sets side

by side simply by pressing the “Add to Compare” button. Several

sets can be compared all at the same time. When ready to

compare, click directly on the “Product Compare” words to have

this instructive screen open up for your convenience.

Since some of the embroidery collections are shown under various

categories, a “safety” feature has also been built into the website:

As an example, while viewing the Christmas designs, you

notice “Celtic Christmas Collection” and add it to your

shopping cart. Later, while still browsing, you fall in love

with “Celtic Christmas” as you are viewing the many Celtic

sets available, and decide to add it to your shopping cart-

which those of us with short term memory issues are apt to

do-LOL. The number in the shopping cart will not change as

the cart knows that that collection is already one of the

packages it is holding for you.

Buying Designs:

Once a set, or collection is desired, click on the “Add to Cart” button and

a number appears in the shopping basket tab showing how many

items are currently selected for purchase.

With browsing complete, click on the shopping cart at the top of the

page and you will have two choices: view the contents of the

shopping cart or simply check out. Always a good idea to view the

contents, especially if more than one item is in the cart to insure

that you have selected the set you intended, or did not

inadvertently select a set previously purchased (if in doubt check

your order history or your personal computer files if purchases

were made prior to this new website). Also check that you have

entered any applicable coupons or discount codes.

When ready to begin the buying process, press checkout and it now

becomes a simple matter of following the steps.

Please note that at any time you want to confirm the

amount you are spending, click on the shopping basket and

the information appears.

Step 1. You have selected what you want to buy.

Step 2. Asks that the billing address is correct. When “continue” is

pressed, a box appears where you can add any comments

about your order. Optional to do so, but hit continue to

proceed.

Step 5. Payment Method which is only Pay Pal at present.

However, if you do not have a Pay Pal account already set up

and/or do not want a Pay Pal account, you can still proceed

to purchase the designs since, once on the true buying page,

there is an option of simply using a credit card.

There is also a “terms agreement” box that must be checked

before being able to continue and this is asking that you

agree to the terms and conditions of design purchasing and

usage under Graceful Embroideries Policies.(Full agreement

can be opened from the Site Map for your review) Once

checked, hit continue.

Step 6. Affords a final look at exactly what you are buying. Hit

Confirm Order

Only after the complete order has been confirmed by your review, is

payment asked for and once again, the choices are with a Pay Pal

Account, or basically as a “guest” of Pay Pal using your credit card.

Please note that even on this page, if you would like to change your order in

any way, click on the blue words “Cancel and return to Hazel Tunbridge”.

Graceful Embroidery provides quality both in designs and service.

Downloading Purchase:

Once the “Pay Now” button has been hit at the bottom of the payment

verification page, a new window opens stating that the order has

been processed. A receipt will automatically be sent to your inbox

at the e-mail address on record. The payment verification page will

also have a continue button.

When this button is pushed, the download page should appear.

Depending on the quickness of your Internet server, it may take

several moments between the verification page showing and then

being able to download the set(s) so don’t be too hasty in hitting

continue.

Please note that if the download page does not appear right

at the onset or it you did hit the continue button to quickly,

go into “My Accounts” and hit Downloads which also brings

up a page in which the purchased sets are stored for

downloading.

Simply click on the blue box with the arrow pointing down to transfer the

purchased set to your home computer.

Once this arrow has been pushed, the file begins the “journey” from

Graceful Embroidery to your computer and depending once again

on you Internet service along with the file size, this can take

several minutes.

Notice that the number by “Remaining” has been decreased by one

affording other downloads to take place if, by some misfortune, a

mistake has occurred on your end.

From this point forward….

It needs to be said, that from this point on, the licensed file are yours. It is

your responsibility to know and understand where to find this file and how to use

this file. Hazel has been more than generous with her time in trying to help us all

understand our computers and how files work with them and such. But…. ultimately,

Graceful Embroidery is devoted to designing and digitizing delicate, one of a kind,

embroidery designs, not a computer/software support system.

In an effort to help………We need to first establish that there are numerous

hardware products (that being computers, USB sticks, hard disks-literally hard,

hands-on devices/gadgets) and numerous software products (that being the

programs which run these devices as well as other software to enable various tasks)

to be able to write a “one size fits all” set of directions of what to do with a file

once it has been downloaded. So rather than try to explain “how”, the intent of the

next portion is to help you understand a bit more about files and maybe in

understanding the “why”, you can adapt this information to incorporate the tools you

currently have on hand to get the results needed.

The very first thing you must know about downloading a file, and also one of

the most important, is exactly where that file goes in your computer once you hit

the “Download” button. Most computers have, as a default or a factory setting, a

folder called “Downloads” which is located right in “My Computer” (other names:

“This PC”). If unsure of where any of your downloads end up, open your Internet

settings and search “download”:

Once again, a wealth of information presents itself; most

importantly, where my downloads are currently going. If I

choose to change the final destination, this is also the screen

in which it would be done. If in doubt, ask your child-or in

my case, even my grandchildren know more about

computers than I do and are usually more than willing to

help.

Most files that are sent over the Internet are “zipped” which basically

compresses the information found within the file making the package smaller and

therefore one that transfers quicker than a larger file would.

Ordered from Graceful Embroidery was Set 4 from the

“Days of Grace” collection being downloaded in a zipped file.

All “zipped” files have a zipper on their folder cover to show that the

information is compressed. (Please ignore the green dot as it is just my personal on-

line backup service code) Compressed information must be “restored” to full size

for proper usage, meaning the folder has to be opened or unzipped. Sometimes this

means the entire folder needs to be unzipped, but often times this simply means a

portion of the folder, the portion necessary for your needs, must be restored.

All Graceful Embroidery files begin with the letters “GFE” allowing for easy

recognition from other files that might also be in the download storage area. Those

three letters are then followed by others to identify both the specific collection

and set within the collection as seen in the sample above.

Just a bit of history to help understand not only some of the progress within

home machine embroidery but also some of the reasons why there is a no “one size

fits all” help page available about downloading/unzipping.

Originally, machine embroidery files were simply not recognized by computers

since they were not word documents or pictures and therefore required purchasing

special software programs to enable the computer to read them as well as unzip

them. Companies-both computer and embroidery machine- first thought it was

important to keep their file formats exclusive and therefore many “extras” were

required to make machine to computer, machine to machine, computer to computer,

and all compatible. Not so much the case anymore. Many computers can unzip files

simply with a right-click on the mouse displaying a box which, when the word “open”

is chosen, allows the ability to extract-or unzip-the information. Older computers

may require additional help that being actual software (very old computers) or free

apps from the Internet (newer but maybe not the newest computers).

Downloaded files from Graceful Embroidery’s new website will contain several

file formats, or in other words, designs written in a language that various embroidery

machine can understand. It is only necessary to unzip the folder which holds the

“language” (file format) which your machine can read, unless you have more than one

type of machine which may require additional information to be unzipped.

To extract only the necessary folder, highlite the folder (left click on the

mouse), go up to the tool bar and click -“copy to” –which allows the folder to be

duplicated to a place of choice. At this point, just copy to the same download folder

holding the zipped folder. Repeat for the PDF file. Review your “download” file and

there should be a folder with no zipper called VP3 (in my case) and a PDF file (red

symbol) called Days of Grace 4.

Now is the time to re-name the folder and move it to a location in the computer

where it can be stored and then easily found for use in embroidery projects.

Filing systems will vary from one person to another and there is absolutely no

one right way. What every system works for you is perfect. Although one suggestion

is that if you regularly purchase designs from one source, create a folder to identify

the digitizer/company and then file the various collections, by name within that

folder.

Helpful Hint: It is a good idea to move the zipped file to an external

backup in case of computer issues. That backup could be an on-

line system, an external hard drive or simply a USB stick. Think

of it as an insurance policy, that if something does go wrong, you

have not lost the original designs. Graceful Embroidery also

enables re-downloading within the My Account/Download area.

Approach a filing system as being similar to an outline. If organized, designs

are quickly located when desired to be put into service.

Important facts to keep in mind when ordering any embroidery designs:

Know the file format that your machine requires. That information

can easily be found in the owner’s manual which came with

the machine. Many machines are now able to read more

than one format but there is usually one that it prefers, and

when available, choose that “language”.

Know the maximum size hoop that your sewing machine is capable

of handling. Once again refer to the owner’s manual for the

specifics of your machine and then check it against the

design information found on each set’s page.

Hazel’s new website has truly been a labor of love; love of embroidery, love of

excellence and deep appreciation of all the many customers who have supported her

throughout the years.

www.GracefulEmbroidery.com is an informative, interactive website providing

professionally digitized embroidery designs. Enjoy browsing, have fun clicking on

buttons to reveal additional information. Most of all, enjoy stitching out the many

wonderful designs releasing the individual creativity found in all of us.

My thanks to Pamela Cox who wrote this tutorial for me!

Happy hoopings from Hazel

©Graceful Embroidery 2014